It was a truism that all civilizations were basically neurotic until they made contact with everybody else and found their place within the ever-changing meta-civilisation of other beings, because, until then, during the stage when they honestly believed they might be entirely alone in existence, all solo societies were possessed of both an inflated sense of their own importance and a kind of existential terror at the sheer scale and apparent emptiness of the universe.

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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

2011 was an eventful year on all levels, from personal to professional to lifting. I did not make huge progress in poundages lifted but I did gain a bit of ground while dropping about 8-10 lbs. compared to my average weight in 2010.

Training was turbulent and I suffered several painful lower back injuries which held me back on the squat and stopped all deadlift progress. It took me a month or so to rebuild my squat from sets of five with just the bar to "heavy" sets with two plates per side, and during this period I did no deadlifting. I managed to build back to consistently pulling in the low 400s, which is shitty when compared to my goal for 2011 (to pull over 500) but still better than the painful triples with 135 that I was reduced to for a while.

2010 Best: 455 lbs. at cca. 208 lbs.2011 Best: 445 lbs. at cca. 200 lbs.Increase: -10 lbs., i.e. a decrease. I was probably good for a 460-470 pull before the really bad injury, as my deadlift for reps was never stronger. Poor performance - will have to double the DL efforts in 2012.

Overhead Press

2010 Best: 225 lbs. at cca. 210 lbs.2011 Best: 235 lbs. at cca. 198 lbs.Increase: 10 lbs. Did not push the OH press as hard as the bench press, but saw better improvement than on the bench. Pretty good.

Goals for 2012:

Squat 500 lbs. - I think this is realistic and I should hit it after a few cycles of heavy singles.
Bench press consistently in the upper 300s. 400 is still a long way off, but who knows...
Deadlift 500 lbs. - an ambitious goal, but I think I can hit it with some specialized pull work.
Overhead press 250 lbs. - focus more on overhead pressing and do less benching.

Bodyweight could comfortably move to 220, I think it'd do me good and I'll still be pretty lean. At 5'11" and 198 lbs. I don't look or feel heavy enough for really big lifts.

Trained today with a sizeable hangover and on only 5 hours of sleep. Bench pressing started slow, then picked up and I ended up pressing 10 lbs. below my personal best. I guess the chain bench pressing paid off. I was also trying to go as heavy as possible as I'm going away for the holidays and will not be near a gym. Overall a pleasant surprise.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Final week of heavy squatting before I max out next week. I will take another (light) training session later in the week and test my 1RM either Monday or Tuesday. Will be aiming for 480, so planning to go 405x2 - 455 - 480, maybe give 500 a shot if the 480 feels okay.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Hit some bench presses and deadlifts today, felt a lot better. Deadlifted heavy for the first time since my multiple back injuries, including the back tweak from Thursday, and was pleasantly surprised.

465 lbs. would have been an all-time PR, which would've been a huge surprise. Considering the state my back is in, even 435 was a big surprise. Either my lower back is getting strong from all the squatting, or sumo pulls are worthless as an exercise.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

First session back from my trip. Jetlagged as hell - 12 time zones in 1 day tends to be stressful on the body. So I didn't exactly push myself today. Squats felt terrible (a good 80-90 lbs. heavier than they were), bench press was okay. Not bad all things considered, although I sprained my back (yet again) racking the bar on squats and now it hurts a bit. The whole setup felt wrong - my quads were the first thing to go, which almost never happens, it's always the hamstrings and hips that get tired first. Right knee feels weird too. I guess flying 45 hrs. coach in a week doesn't do much good for the back and knees either.

Monday, November 14, 2011

I'll be away on business over the next week and a half, so I decided to go into slight overtraining before I leave. Lower body only - I will be bringing my cables on the trip and working the hell out of the upper body. I'll also be spending more time on practising perfect, paused bench press form with light weights several times per week (if I find a gym on the road, even more so). This will hopefully help my right shoulder heal faster.

Bench press: hit a bunch of triples focusing hard on perfect body positioning. It's pretty hard - even with light weights you have to contort your body and hold the pose in order to have the bar descend correctly. Finished off with 225 lbs. x 5 sets x 3.

Pullups 5x5

Seated HammerStrength rows 3 sets x 6-7, kinda heavy

Dips x 15, x 12

DB flyes on slightly inclined bench, 1 set x 11 (wanted to hit 20 reps but my rotator cuff was complaining) with a pair of 50s

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Still tired and a bit sore from the squatting on Tuesday. Wanted to press, but my right shoulder / scapular muscles are in a world of pain. I blame the combo of low-bar squatting and bottom-position bench presses. Looks like I'll have to give one up - bottom-position benches will be the ones to go for now. No use destroying my shoulders.

Due to the pain I used a safety squat bar to take stress off my shoulders and wrists. I will immediately say this is probably the hardest leg exercise I've ever done. A squat with a SSB is nothing like a normal squat: much more leg involvement, less stress on the back. A mere 3 plates (335 lbs., as the bar weighs 65 lbs, not 45) for singles was the best I could do.

Overhead press is not progressing, still can't match or beat my PR of 235 lbs. I've been focusing on the bench for a while now and was not expecting it to progress much. I just do a bunch of random singles whenever I think/feel about it. The good news is that 225 lbs. is easy now, I can get it any time. I just need to move that "light weight" threshold to 230, then onward and upward.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

I realized I have seven weeks of training left in 2011 before I leave for holiday. This is enough to run one four-week cycle and one three-week cycle for the squat and hopefully hit a max in the seventh week.

I have taken 480 lbs. as the goal to finish 2011 on a semi-high note. My PB (set last year) is 475 lbs. (215 kgs). I have had a few setbacks in the meantime, but training has been going well lately and I think I can still finish 2011 higher than 2010. I have already improved my bench press by 8 lbs. and my press by 10, so a 5-lb. gain on the squat would round it out nicely.

I have given up all hope for the deadlift (current PB 455 lbs.), what with recurring back injures and all. 500 will have to wait until 2012.

Instead of doing asisstance work, I practiced sumo deadlifts. These went well - worked up to a single with 395 lbs. and did not feel any undue back strain or pain. Great considering that last week I wrenched my back pulling 330. Maybe this is the way to go.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Did some back squats to make sure my back was okay. There was a bit of pain when I unracked the bar, but otherwise it went well. I was tempted to do some deadlifting and tried some light pulls, but didn't want to test my luck.

Then I tried to squeeze in some light deadlifts - and disaster (almost) struck. I warmed up with some fast pulling and loaded the bar to 330 lbs., which I was planning to do 3x3 quick pulls with.

The first rep of the very first set came up explosively; the second one was just as fast, but I felt a sharp spasm of pain on the right side of my lower back. It probably has something to do with me swinging kettlebells with bad form like a complete dumbass a few days ago.

The pain has since subsided some, and I hope it's not going to be serious like the last time I jacked up my back. But yes, this is pretty disappointing. I need to see a sports doctor - my lower back has always been strong and injury-free, and tweaking it twice in the past few months is surely not a good sign. I was right on track for a big squat by the end of the year, possibly a PR. Now it's all up in the air.

Monday, October 17, 2011

I had to move the first pressing session of this week to Monday due to time constraints later in the week. This made it my fourth training day in a row, with the upper body still sore from the bench press session on Saturday. As a result today's numbers were low - a nice 80% session, but nothing special.

On a more positive note, I had to wait for the power rack to free up and started doing some close-grip bench presses with chains in the meantime (someone else had been using the chains and I just picked up after they finished). Ended up hitting a conservative max. I must say that I find this movement absolutely awesome and plan to incorporate it more into my misc pressing workouts in the future.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Experimented a bit with foot placement, etc. Found out that feet flat all the way is the best way for me to bench press and that I have no business doing arched-back bench presses; I can never get my feet right when I try to tuck them under and go on the balls of my toes, and I just end up unstable and wobbly, making even light weight difficult to press.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

The miss was a big surprise, tried to press with my feet tucked under and one of my feet slipped. The bar stalld about half-way up and came back. The second atempt felt much heavier than it should have. Could have something to do with the new partial pressing routine I'm using.

270 lbs. x 3 sets x 3, 1 set x 2

Paused bench press 225 lbs. x 5 (all with decent 2-second pause)

Close-grip bench press 225 lbs. x 2 sets x 4 (failed at 5 both times)

Pullups 3 sets x 8

Two-DB curls 3 sets x 5

The idea behind this new program is working up to an easy single, backing off 30 lbs. and hitting four triples, then down another 45 lbs. and one set of five with an extended pause at the chest. Next week add 5 lbs. to all lifts and do it again. On day two I will do bottom-up benches from two positions - Position 1 an inch or two above the chest, Position 2 two holes in the power rack above Position 1 (heavy lockouts).

Very weak showing today, possibly due to the body getting used to the power rack work which is absolutely lethal and might be throwing me off. If this persists, I'm going back to a normal routine where I cut reps as I go up in weight - worked fine so far.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Decided to incorporate some partial bench presses in my training program after reading several articles on ditillo2.blogspot.com on this type of training. I will do partials on one press day and full bench presses (mostly singles) on another. The two dead-stop positions worked in the partial BP will be:

2-3 inches off the chest (upper arms parallel to the floor), flat back and as little leg drive as possible: this will work that toughest of areas, the position in which the bar has left the chest but cannot rely on the thrust provided by the pectorals and upper back. It is a tremendously difficult position to press from and poundages are considerably reduced. I have discovered that I rely too much on momentum off the chest to blast through this sticking point - time to build some actual strength.

6-7 inches off the chest - this is where the triceps take over. Again, flat back and minimal leg drive. This position is slightly easier but forces one to work the transition from the blast off the chest to the successful lockout by the arms.

This was tough and considerably less than I can press full-range. The thing I love about dead-stop bench presses is that there is no way to cheat - you either press the weight or you don't. Upper body was pumped much more thoroughly than ever before from bench pressing.

Tried to follow up with some incline bench rack presses from chin level, hit 205x3 and 225x1 and called it a day.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Deadlifts - worked up to a light single with 365 lbs., then did a few sets of deficit deadlifts standing on a platform, the heaviest set being 295 lbs. x 2. This doesn't seem like much weight but for a guy with T-Rex arms like mine breaking the bar off the floor in a deficit deadlift is hard as hell on the lower back.

Paused squats 310 lbs. x 5 - was tired by now, so the pause did not amount to much.

This program is murderously hard; hitting a heavy single, backing off a bit and doing multiple reps, then working up to another heavy-ish single really takes it out of you. It was designed for a geared squatter. I'm still making it work, and in a couple of weeks I'll transition to the 3-week cycle, which is more about heavy singles and more merciful on the legs and back.

Taking a break from the usual routine after completing the second run-through of the Ed Coan bench press program. Today I did some heavy overhead presses for reps (I've mostly been doing singles lately) and some moderate-weight bench presses.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

This went better than expected, my upper body still feeling the heavy benching session from Saturday. 240 lbs. is within reach, right now I feel like it's my upper back that's the weak link. I felt my lats flare and fail as the bar reached eye level. More direct work is in order.

Not this week though. I'll be away Friday through Sunday, and have decided to take the rest of the week off. Back to the grind on Monday: heavy overheads and heavy squats, moderate bench press and moderate deadlifts after that. I'll do some heavy cable training before I leave. Good for the upper back - in fact, the best upper back exercises ever.

I am toying with the idea of running another Ed Coan bench press cycle, aiming to hit a new max some time before my Christmas travels. To do that I'd have to start the cycle sometime at the end of September. It's probably too much to ask for, but I've already done two cycles back-to-back which I didn't expect to work, and am very pleased with the results. At the end of the second one I hit 360 instead of 375 (which seems light years away right now), but it's still a good improvement.

I then set the power rack pins so that the bar resting on them was just above knee level and did some shrugs up to 425 lbs. x 2, then proceeded to rack pulls up to 600 lbs. x 1. This was a pleasant surprise, as my real deadlift (from the floor) has gone to shit after my back injury.

I did not recover properly from the heavy bench press and squat sessions on Monday and Tuesday, so the pressing session today was lackluster. My triceps and shoulders were too tired to push big weights and the same goes for the hips and lower back, which play a huge role in a successful standing overhead press.

Training has been erratic this past few weeks, I've managed to hit the gym 3 times per week but nothing out of the ordinary to report (as can be seen). Bench press routine is progressing well, although I feel like I'm hitting a wall there too. Squat is getting back on track slowly and I'm avoiding heavy deadlifts.

Lost quite a bit of pulling strength from the layoff, but am still doing okay. I will slowly reintroduce cable pulls into my weekly routine. Surprisingly weak in the tricep-dominant movements, especially archer pull in which I have lost a lot of strength.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

My overhead press training has been irregular lately, so today I just went for some comfortable low-rep sets. Surprised myself and almost hit a personal best. I will keep attacking a PR over the next few sessions, maybe even add in an extra overhead pressing session somewhere in the week.

95 lbs. x 3
135 lbs. x 3
155 lbs. x 3
175 lbs. x 3
195 lbs. x 2
205 lbs. x 2
215 lbs. x 2 (last time I failed at this weight - could not even get it moving)
225 lbs. x 1 (smoked this one like it was 185)
240 lbs. x fail (too big of a jump - got it halfway up, but no lift)
230 lbs. x fail (I'm pretty sure I would have made it had I not messed around with the 240)

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Today I had a squat session followed by some deadlifting. My lower back injury is still bothering me, but I am already at around 60% of my pre-injury weights and hoping to improve further in the coming couple of weeks.

It's going to be a long way back to decent weights, but now I'm confident I can do it.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Did some more squats today. The weight is coming back up, I managed to hit a pain-free single with 270 lbs. today as opposed to 195 lbs. last week, made some progress on the high box squats too. I am hopeful that I'll be back to normal strength levels in a week or two. The deadlift might take longer to recover, though - did a few doubles with 225 lbs. and they hurt.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Tried some deadlifts after the squats, super light weight and very careful of form. There was pain, but only in a certain range (at the very bottom of the deadlift). Might try pulling off blocks or pins in the power rack if I can do it pain free. Anything to get back into deadlift training. Lower back keeps feeling better, but still nowhere near ready for heavy weights.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Followed my decision to try squatting five days this week. So today was Day 3. I even managed to add some weight to the bar for real squats, but my hips are still mysteriously stiff, despite doing several minutes of hip stretching.

Full squat barx5, 65x5, 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 145x5, 165x5

High box squat 195x5, 215x5, 245x5, 265x5, 285x5

Again, kept form perfect, avoided forward lean and quit at the slightest sign of pain. This might work.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Tried some light squats today but lower back is still in pain. My hips are also feeling weird and it took me five or six sets to break parallel - I would descend to about an inch above parallel and just stop there, unable to go lower. When I finally managed to squat below parallel I think I topped out at something like 155 lbs. for 3 reps and it was painful, so I just gave up.

Tried leg presses - another no-go.

So I decided to start my new Ed Coan bench routine a day earlier than planned:

Friday, June 24, 2011

Lower back held out remarkably well and is starting to feel better. It will be a while until I squat or deadlift heavy again. Started the session with 2 sets x 10 of the seated good morning with just the bar for a nice spinal erector stretch.

Seated behind-the-neck press - worked up to 165 lbs. x 1. Still weak as a kitten here, but I will get better.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Some light lower back work, seated upper back and biceps exercises. Injured area is slightly better, I keep doing stretches and abdominal exercises when at home. Hoping to get back to very light squats and deadlifts next week, then maybe heavier stuff the week after that.

The pain is now bearable and I hope no permanent damage has been done.

Monday, June 20, 2011

So my back problem escalated today to the point where I can barely walk. Managed to get the squats done but my back almost collapsed as I was racking the bar, so I could have been in a world of trouble. No squats or deadlifts this week - will see about next week. Hope the pain goes away on its own.

Back squat:

Warmup 4 sets
315 lbs. x 3
365 lbs. x 3
405 lbs. x 5

Deep squat - worked up to 305 lbs. x 1. Pain was really bad at this point so I cut the session short.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Note - I strained something in my left quad yesterday doing that stupid leg extension machine. There is a sharp pain just above my outer knee (in the quad, not the knee). Hips and hamstrings are brutally sore from squatting and leg pressing - I wasn't even using that much weight. Oh well. Hope the pain goes away before deadlift day.

Regular bench press 320 lbs. x 2 sets x 1

Stalled on the program here; was supposed to hit 2x2 with this weight, but it was just too heavy.

Close-grip bench press 285 lbs. x 2, x 1 (almost hit 2x2)

Incline bench press 225 lbs. x 2, 235 lbs. x 1, x 2

I'll still try for maxes on all three movements next Tuesday, see how that goes, then cycle to lighter weight + more reps.